CONSTRUCTION OF A CHARGED-PARTICLE IRRADIATION CHAMBER FOR THE USE WITH PLASTIC DETECTORS

A simple sensitive charged particle irradiation chamber was designed a nd constructed in our laboratory. A circular rotating table with six d etector holders, is contained in the chamber. The rotation is controll ed electronically via a stepper motor with a precision of 1.8 degrees. The beam-to-detector direction is changeable with an angle less than 5 degrees. An alpha source is allowed to move vertically using another stepper motor. The source-to-detector distance is determined with an accuracy better than 1.0 mm. An energy monitoring system, composed of a silicon surface barrier detector and a signal electronic system atta ched to a PC is used for energy calibration. Chamber characterization and its application in nuclear track registration are studied under di fferent conditions. The energy resolution of CR-39 plastic detector ha s been obtained at various alpha energies and etching durations. Resul ts showed that good detector resolution could be achieved at high etch ing duration.